The present invention relates to a connecting element for an elevator car or a counterweight guide rail with a tube shaped rail body and free ends for the attachment to a beam wherein two guide rails in the rail assembly are connected by a tube shaped connecting member and a cooperating base plate.
A common form of elevator guide rail has a T-shaped construction which, when installed in an elevator shaft, has the top or cross portion of the "T" facing the shaft wall and the bottom or body of the "T" facing in a direction whereby wheels or rollers can run on the exposed surfaces of the body. The T-shaped guide rail has several disadvantages that include a concentration of a majority of the material at the center of the "T" resulting in a low stiffness to weight ratio, relatively heavy rail sections that are difficult to move and install, a relatively short spacing between rail brackets to compensate for the relatively low stiffness, and significant machining of the rail surfaces being required for proper alignment of the sections.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,637,496 shows a connecting element for .OMEGA.-shaped guide rails. The guide rail has a hollow cylinder shaped rail body with opposed flat portions or ends. The flat ends and the rail body are one piece and have a cross section in the shape of an .OMEGA. symbol. A tube shaped connecting member is inserted into the rail body, with approximately one half of the length of the member extending from the rail body. On the edge of each of the flat ends, a holding member is attached. The holding members of the opposed flat ends are connected by means of a threaded bolt. By tightening threaded bolt nuts, the flat ends are moved toward each other. Thereby the cross section of the hollow cylinder shaped rail body is narrowed, which in turn clamps tight the connecting member. A further guide rail is slipped onto the free half of the connecting member and clamped tight by means of holding members and locking bolts on the connecting member.